


Magically Tragic ::DanXPhil::

by Anonymous



Category: Amazingphil - Fandom, Daniel Howell - Fandom, Danisnotonfire - Fandom
Genre: Dan is terrified 24/7, It's A Magical World AU, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Phil is positive 24/7, Social Anxiety, Will continue in 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-03 21:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13349772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Dan is having trouble keeping his powers hidden, especially when some blue-eyed guy keeps running into him at the most inconvenient of times.::Phil is having trouble keeping his species a secret, especially since he is always drawn back to the same brown-eyed-boy he kinda wants to get to know a whole lot better- because they might both have magic in their veins, that is!::While the two try to stay apart to avoid their secrets being known, the Dark is hunting, and it doesn't matter how well they can hide, soon, they'll be caught.





	1. Where The Story Begins

_The cat lay on its side, head resting on the cold stone that made up the floor, ceiling and four walls surrounding him. It was dark, it was always dark, even when it was day it was only slightly lighter. And it was always quiet. Always so quiet. With only the cat's own breathing to fill the silence. He longed for any sort of noise, a snap of a twig, birds and their tweeting, water rushing past in a river, voices of people on their way to work, roosters announcing the start of the day. But there was no sound. He's beginning to wonder if his memories of it are even correct._  
_How long has he been down here?_  
_How much longer will the Dark hold him in place?_  
_Of course, the cat already knew the answer to that. As long as he still had magic darting through his fur, than he was useful, and once that magic can no longer cling to his whiskers..?_

_The cat heaved himself over to his stomach, seems the littlest action required the biggest effort these days or this month or these past years.  It's impossible to tell how much time has passed when each second felt like hours._

_Suddenly light shone through the little window in his prison door, blinding his blue eyes as he leapt back in surprise. His eyes widen as he backs away as soft foot steps draw nearer._  
_As much as he missed sound, this sound almost 100% of the time brought with it a world of pain._

 _What was She doing back here? She only comes to visit when She needs more magic for Her spells. Which She usually only does when it was day. It must be important. It was probably going to be_ very _painful._

_The cat shuffled quickly backwards, knowing it'll do nothing but still trying to run anyway. His rear hit the wall and he cowardly shoved his face into his paws and his puffed out furred tail was shoved firmly between his hind legs in pure terror._

_She reached the door, casting an eerie shadow, and fumbled with the lock._  
_The cat shut his eyes tight, too full of fear to wonder why Her normally loud confident foot steps where now quite and soft, or why She was having trouble with a lock She has used times and times before._

 _Finally, after what seemed to last hours, there was a click that sounded deafening in the silent room, than a rattle as She moved the pieces of the lock to the side._  
_Then the door opened._

 _"Hurry, get out." Whispered a voice that was not female._  
_The cat opened his eyes in surprise to see the figure of a hooded male lit up into a silhouette._  
_They where not the Dark. He wasn't Her._  
_The cat was too shocked to speak, too shocked to move!_  
_The man stepped back, gesturing with his arm for him to come out._  
_"What are you waiting for?" He asked, keeping his accented voice low, "You need to run now." He waved his arm once more in the direction of outside before he moved out of sight._  
_The cat let his eyes adjust to the light, breathing in deep as hope started to over ride his fear of this being a cruel twisted joke set up by Her._  
_As his eyes adjusted, and he saw just what was the man pointing too before, another lock was heard clicking open. The cat sprang up, staring at the portal swirling mere meters from his face, he could see trees, rocks, rain and night sky!_

 _A scatter of claws on stone broke his trace as the creature he didn't even know was caged in the room besides him dashed for the portal._  
_And just like that the cat sped towards his freedom._

_He leapt with his heart beating out of his chest, into the swirls, and suddenly it was raining! Heavy sheets of water bucketed down from above and soaked him to his bones, chilling him to freezing at once! Thunder crashed and blared and blocked the noise of even the loud rain as he caught a glimpse of the green creature racing off into the dark._

_The storm was bombarding his unused senses and the cat was overwhelmed into standing still in fear as his body tried to make sense of this drastic change._

_"WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE WERECAT?!" Yelled a young man's voice from behind._  
_The cat flipped around to stare back at the man who had freed him, mice and birds where hiding in his clothes and under his hood. Still, he couldn't see his face apart from a chin and some stubble. The cat could barely see anything in the hard rain._  
_"YOU GOT STOCKHOLM SYNDROME OR SOMETHIN'?!" The man yelled though the rain, he said something else that was lost to thunder as the portal closed behind him._

 _But he did help to break though his frozen stature once again. Getting the cat's mind to retake control of his body. And there was only one thing chanting through his mind._  
_Run_.

 

-

 

The sun beat down on the grass that struggled to grow before being eaten by the animals in the paddock. It also beat down on the boy who was taking a breather in the sweltering heat, he huffed, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.  
"Hot today, huh Philip?" He addressed the curious dark llama who was the one to always rush up to stare at Dan when he arrives at his job like Dan was responsible for killing his family.  
Dan leans a bit closer, mimicking to the best he could Philip's face, "Oh yes Daniel! Nothing like the recent storms we have been having!" Dan nods seriously, "You are quite right Philip!" He responds to his own silly voice. "It's a beautiful day, as they say, and I'm here..." Dan's shoulders drop and his graze falls to the slightly longer grass under his feet on the other side of the fence from Philip, "...stuck...talking to a... _llama_."  
Dan shakes his head, causing brown curls to bounce. He sighs as he picks up his lunch from the ground where he left it earlier, "Oh well, what do I need other human beings for anyway? Everyone sucks, including myself!" He says, joyfully sarcastic, as he was with usually every conversation with the llama he had decided to call Philip.  
Dan's eyes dart over past the barn to a wide space between the barn and an old dirt road where laughing teens have risen in volume, as one of their friends had just fallen off one of the few trees at the edge, one boy had fallen onto his knees in a wheezing fit while another girl that was in the tree was laughing so hard she almost fell off herself, causing the volume of joy to rise further.

Dan slouches, staring at his shoes as he leans back on the fence, trying to ignore the painful feeling in his throat and chest. Philip's head nudges gently at his head and Dan smiles, turning around to face the most friendliest llama in the whole paddock. Philip leans over the face, sniffing, "Aw," Dan reaches out to see if he would be allowed to pat him today, "at least I'll _always_ have _you_!"  
Philip reaches his neck over further, and goes right past Dan's outstretched hand and right to the other one that's holding an apple. Dan was a second too late when he realised, "Hey-NO!" Dan jumps back but Philip was quicker and he snatches the juicy apple in his mouth, "Nooo that's mine!" Dan watches helplessly as the llama takes off away from him, proud of his trickery.

"Fine!" Dan stomps his foot and crosses his arm, "It's not like I actually thought we had bonded over the last week or so that I've been picking UP YOUR SHIT, YOU UNGRATEFUL BANANA PEEL!" He yells out his hurt at this tragic betrayal.

He turns sharply away with a scowl and notices a few of the teens staring over at him, he feels his cheeks colour and he coughs into his hand, "Great, now I look like an insane person who talks with llamas." He mutters, to himself now that Philip has abandoned him.  
Tucking his hands into his pockets he hunches up his shoulders and quickly makes his way over to the barn near the road and fence where he had previously returned the shovel and wheelbarrow, he tries to just slide by his classmates without drawing anymore attention along the outside of the barn but the hairs on his neck prickle, as if they where all watching his back as he left, judging him. He hurries away.

It seems no matter where he is, his lunch always ends up getting stolen anyways, wherever by jerk faces on weekdays or by jerk llamas on weekends, he was always left hungry. Dan sighs, thinking dreamily of food, he bets the stores in town have new cakes and pies and-"Mmm!" Dan has made up his mind, because you know what? Dan deserves a treat! He's been mucking out in the sun for hours and he has some extra cash on him today from finding it on the ground (score!) walking to his newish job. So why the hell not?

 

-

 

Walking along a path made of cream smooth rocks, Dan notices how the trees and grass get even sparser the nearer he gets to town, he raises an eyebrow and wonders what could of caused it. The heat maybe? But it has been raining heavily for a while so it can't be that.  
He's distracted from his idling walk thoughts by a clutter. He turns his head to look over, between two houses in the ally between them echoed sounds of something whacking on something soft, harsh laughter rang out with it.  
Dan pauses, feeling his heart speed up, he spies a flash of white fur between the legs that were kicking the poor thing. A pitiful broken meow was cut short with a whack from one the sticks the children had.

"Haha! Look at the stupid cat!"  
" _Witches_ pet!"  
"Evil filth from the _Dark_!"  
"Not so tough now, are you?"  
" _Magical_ beast!"

Dan winces, quickening his pace past and looking straight ahead, fixed on the stone bridge further up. It's not like he doesn't want to help, truth is he really wanted to. But fear for himself kept him ignoring what was happening, as selfish as that is. But there was probably like, seven definitely fanged children with pointy spears and only one of him, Dan didn't like his chances.

Dan really couldn't get involved. Anything that might make people stop and wonder, even if for a second, was something Dan avoided at all costs.

So he speeds along until he can't hear the hissing or the shouts, desperately trying to block out thoughts of what he had just walked past with thoughts of the clothes he had hang up to dry and that he'll need to fold when he returns home.

Just before his feet touches the first light cream stone of the bridge, his attention is suddenly ripped away from everything and shoved to the tingling sensation in his hands. He freezes, eyes wide in shock as the tingling made the blood in his hands heat up. He whips to the side, dashing down a much more unused dirt track leading to the forest that surrounds his queendom.

His breathes come out quick and short as panic grips his body.  
_Shit_! What could of triggered it?! It's usually the full moon or some other shit that brings it up!

He runs into the trees, unable to worry about being seen entering the forest as all his worry was focused on the hot sparks that were now beginning to slide up his arms. His feet trip on rocks and fallen branches as he races on, stumbling over everything in his mad dash to get as far away from people as possible.  
He goes to jump over a log but his foot catches on it, he drops to his hands, kicking out at the log as his heartbeat pounds in his ears. He starts to crawl even further before the panic subdues enough for him to notice the single bright purple flower in front of him, for him to realise that no one was chasing him, no one was near and he was safe to let go.

He takes a deep breath in, digging his hands into the soft soil as the heat nears his shoulders and than he exhales, pushing the air out of him and pushing out all the unexpected magic along with it.  
It shot out of the ends of his finger tips with a hot sting.

And than it was gone like it had never been there.

Dan's chest heaves and he shakily stands up, he brushes his unstable hands on his shirt as he looks at what his magic had done. The patch of soft soil under the shade of a tree and fallen log was no longer soft, it was hard and brittle, making it a lighter colour than the rest, and it twirled up, searching to destroy something pretty, it found the once vibrant purple flower and made its petals curl back black and dead, stem bent and twisted. 

Dan warps his arms around himself, willing himself to calm down and just be thankful no one noticed or-crap! Did anyone notice?! He shakes his head, trying to get back on track.

Of course, Dan wasn't some genius wizard, that much was quite obvious, but he had spent his whole life hiding it, practicing and learning how to keep the magic in check. Until right this moment, Dan had always known at least half an hour beforehand when the magic, the Dark, was coming and when he needed to find someplace to let it out.

He shuddered, letting images of himself becoming uncontrollable while he was at school, or in town, or anywhere near people, fill his mind. There would be bodies looking like the dead flower before him.

He shut his eyes and turned his head sharply away from the plant he killed.  
He felt cold and jittery now that the adrenaline and shock had worn off. He moved back the way he came, knowing he would have to hurry home and figure out what triggered his Darkness so suddenly before this could happen again.

 

-

 

Dan walked home on the old path that warped around the edge of the forest back to his house in order to keep away from any people in case the magic reappeared. Dan's house could definitely be called shabby, but that was to be expected from being a house built right at the edge of the forest. Nobody in their right mind, or nobody wealthy, would want to live anywhere near the dangerous creators that supposedly lived inside the forest. Though Dan has never seen anything other than regular birds or the occasional rabbit and squirrel.  
This was where the poor and low class people can afford an actual roof over their heads.   

Dan arrived at his back fence, he steps over it in the place where the top railing has fallen off, as he enters the familiar overgrown yard his shoulders dropped from their tight upheld hold as some of the prickly anxiety was washed off by the sense of safety his secluded home brought.

Puffing from the journey home Dan dragged his feet over to where his black and other dark clothes where hanging out in the afternoon sun. He shielded his eyes from the light as he stared up at a gap of clothes on the line, now, didn't he recall filling up the _whole_ clothes line with his soul matching shirts and pants?

Dan groans and rolled his eyes in irritation as he went to pick up a basket from the side of the house and came back to pull the remaining clothes down.

So not only did he have to find out what this dangerous magic triggering thing was before school tomorrow, but his clothes had been nicked as well!

Plopping the final pair of socks into the basket Dan carried it over to a dirty bench, leaving it there he went and grabbed a skinny stick under the table, cabinet thingy, going to put it into a crack in the brick wall to push out the key within, his hand darted out to catch the key with only a little bit of relief as he wasn't all that worried in the first place.  
Being robbed wasn't new news around here with the poor and desperate. This wasn't the first time Dan had had his stuff taken. It looked like his newest uninvited visiter had just fancied themselves a new outfit.

Slotting the key into place, he feels the numbing sadness return, his home didn't use to be this quiet or lonely.

 

-

 

Black hair wafted in the wind with the leaves, a young man hastily slipped the shirt he had "borrowed without asking" over his pale torso. It wasn't a perfect fit, bit tight, but it would do. Patting "his" shirt out the tall male considered his next choice of action.

Well, he had pants and a shirt now, he could do with some shoes too, but maybe he'll get them from a different person this time, don't want to "borrow" too much from one guy. But yeah, after that all that would be left to do is simply just enter the brand new civilisation with new laws and different social rules and somehow make it out on the streets and than eventually work his way up to live happily and comfortably with his new life and never spurting fur while avoiding being recognised! Easy as not shifting on a full moon night.

...Which was to say, _darn near impossible._

The poor guy slumped over thinking of the task ahead of him. But nothing could really get him down for long, after all this was life! This was _living_ and _doing_ and _not being trapped in a basement trying not to wish you'd just die._  
So he was loving being homeless more than the normal person.


	2. It's Just School So Just People But Just Nerves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was hard to write this chapter, I'm so full of nerves haha, the only way I can write social anxiety is taking it from my own experiences.  
>  So I'm basically writing my own feelings out and I've never done that before and it's terrifying, but I've accepted this part of me and I'm ready to conquer one small bit at a time and this helps. C:
> 
> If it's different for you or you don't understand that's fine and it's normal, just please remain open minded and respectful. Thank you! :D

Dan sits cross legged on his bed, head down, focusing on his slow breathing and trying to ignore how empty the house sounded without his brother roaming about, without his dad working out in the yard or without his mother's clacking from the kitchen.  
Without all that, Dan couldn't call this house home and actually mean it.   
Dan shakes his head, closing his eyes as if that could shut out the unwelcome thoughts as it does with his sight.   
' _It won't be like this forever,'_ Dan tells himself, ' _they're coming back and they'll be home before I graduate.'_  
With those calming words Dan sucks in a deep breath and let's it go, releasing his hold on the barrier he keeps walled around his skin and letting it slip away.  
He can feel the Dark almost instantly. A heavy sleeping weight balled up in his chest, guarding his heart, even if it was the very thing that made his heart beat so fast.  
Next, Dan becomes aware of it everywhere, a tingling sensation running down his legs and along his arms, alike the prickly feeling you get along the back of your neck or the goosebumps that rise up on your skin when you know something bad is about to happen, or has already and you're just waiting for the fallout.  
Dan's head rolls back as he loses his sense of a solid body. He was gliding, quick and faint, flickering on and off as he tried hard to concentrate and find the trigger that set the magic inside him off before.  
Unable to see or feel anything Dan simply existed in a space. Which was good, as that meant there was no other magic around. Or at least, no magic that was strong enough for Dan to find in the weak flickering reaches that Dan was only capable of doing.

He's grandma wasn't around for long, but she used her time to teach him as much as she could. If he wanted to learn more he would have to experiment and find things out for himself, but he doesn't want to learn how to use magic, not one bit. It can stay tucked away forever and disappear for all that Dan cares for it.

Other times when Dan was searching for triggers, he would breeze past another, another person with Dark inside them. They would touch, or, more like, their essences would touch. And like a sudden cold shower he would be washed over in a darting zap of all the confusing emotions and tingling power the other had. This had shocked him out of his trance the first few times he tried.  
And other times, Dan would touch with a surface, his mind sliding off it, unable to interact with the guarded essence inside. These where the ones that unnerved him the most, due to them _definitely_ knowing they had magic inside and being _powerful enough to consciously use it._

Not everyone wanted to hide it away and pretend they don't have something designed for destroying inside them like Dan does.

And sometimes, what Dan found was not essences of people or animals that he grazed over but sometimes something more like a cloud of power, moving, twisting, _cold_. It can be thin or thick, a mist of the Dark. Somedays Dan couldn't find any patches of mist and other days, like on full moon nights, the mist was everywhere and Dan stayed inside.   
But that was usually the sort of thing that triggers the Dark in Dan. He figures he was near a really thick mist of Dark to have brought it up so suddenly.   
It was what Dan was searching for now. If he could just find it, then he would know what areas to avoid, but as the mists move around a lot and Dan doesn't actually know where exactly he is when he does find the Dark mist, as all he has to go on is his twisted sense of direction and distance in his trance sate, it wasn't a very good plan, but it was all he had.   
He's hoping it'll be infused with an object this time, as that's easier to avoid. He just had to feel out the shape, and stay clear of anything that vaguely had that shape in reality, sometimes it felt like a pot, other times a bed or some other piece of furniture or plant.   
His grandma used to have one, a magical object that is, she had called it a _Wand_ and he had called it ' _Sparkly Sticky._ '

Despite all this, today Dan's mind reaches out, and finds nothing, sliding over a guarded essence before nothing once again.  
Dan's neck is starting to ache, he doesn't know how long he has been looking, but long enough for his body to start complaining loud enough to drag his mind back to the senses of the physical world.  
With an exhausted groan he lets the last traces of his trance go and flops back into his bed. He stretched out his sore arms and legs and groans as his neck ache becomes more noticeable. Even with a strong desire to embrace sleep and never move again, his thoughts still had some sorting to do.  
Maybe it was just a random mist of Dark that triggered the magic and now it's gone away so he doesn't have to worry anymore? Maybe so... but Dan is definitely still going to be uneasy. Worrying was as much a part of him as his hobbit hair was.  
With his last bottle of energy, he remakes his barrier, threading his thoughts and will around the magic to hide it away.

There where places he undoubtedly missed around the outskirts where he lived and the farms he worked near and around school, so he could of just missed the Dark he was looking for. But Dan really didn't want to think about that.

  
-

  
A black furred cat twirls around on top of some hay on a pile of dark clothes, curling up to sleep under the shelter from a stable. The cat had made sure he was far away from any of the terrifying things called horses. He was tucked away in the hayloft for the night, easier to be a cat than a human when trying to sleep atop hay and in the cold.  
A softness.  
The cat's blue eyes snap open.  
It was so faint he was certain that he would of missed it completely if he hadn't of been a cat. Soft, like a pair of eyes flicking over him, lightly touching his fur as they glide past.  
He was holding his breath, because he knew that feeling.   
And although the magic user didn't do anything harmful or try to get their way past his block and dashed away too quick to seem like they were even remotely interested in him... it still meant someone in this Queendom had the Soul Finding Power.  
A power that _She_ had and used to find him and bash though his armour to capture him with.   
The poor cat couldn't breathe, wide eyes showing clear fear that the magic user would realise that they had just gone past a helpless Werecat and come back hunting for him.  
But nothing ever did, and he eventually fell into a restless sleep.

  
-

  
Dan's shoes shuffle down the old road towards school once more, heat made it damp under his shirt and he is hit again with the painful absence of Morning and Afternoon, the two horses that him and his brother would race to school on once out of sight of their father, who would be walking on foot to collect the horses from the nearby stable they would leave them to rest at.  
Horses where very expensive, him and his family all loved them even though half of their pay went towards keeping them well, and the only reason they could even afford them was because Morning was _really_ ugly. And Afternoon was a _gift_ for Dan's mother from a man who thought he could entice her away from Dan's father. She kept the gifts and sent him away.   
Dan smiles, as he always does when remembering fond memories. But the heat soon tugged that away.  
The horses were with his family, to help them carry supplies and such while they traveled to their new job. Dan's father was promised it would be very well paying and they, being the poor family they are, snatched the opportunity right up!  
Dan continued to walk alone along the dusty track instead of walking behind the horses and complaining about how his brother rode the horses for the longest and it should be his turn again now.  
Dan was offered a job in the city as well, but he had declined quite firmly, with a panicked expression.  
The reason why? Dan was afraid. Of change. Of new things.  
But that didn't really make sense as he was afraid of familiar things too, habits are just easier he supposed.  
Another reason was that he didn't know what kind or how many triggers there would in the city, and he was absolutely terrified of being found out.  
His excuse was that he wanted to stay and finish his last year of school. _The biggest lie he ever told._

Dan crosses the street, passing by a group of students, he's almost to school now. If the sick feeling in his gut didn't tell him the hushed voices from the kids behind him did, but his gut was pretty good at telling him when he was near. As the urge to vomit would increase dramatically.  
 _Dramatically_.  
 _Dramatic_.   
Dan was _dramatic_ , he never vomited at school, he was just being _dramatic_ , again.

A girl snorted and added her whispers to the mix of her friends.  
Dan's heart clutches itself in his chest. They're talking about him, he's doing something horribly wrong and down right stupid right now.  
Dan sucks in a breath and checks his walking, desperately just trying to walk like a normal human being but now he's stiff and the teens are laughing and-!  
Dan pulls the collar of his tatted school shirt up, hiding his embarrassment, trying to cool down his already frightened heartbeat.  
Still fearful of whispers.

Walking though the school gates, Dan enters the noise of the yard, brown eyes staring down at his shoes with brief flickers up to look at posters or room numbers as he walked to his locker, looking _anywhere_ but at another person.

Dan was surrounded by his fellow students, a bunch of unobservant teenagers too warped up in their own drama to pay any attention to him. Having no idea that a wielder of the dark walks amongst them everyday.  
Because Dan has never given them anything to wonder that, he was quite simply, one of _those_ kids, those ones that don't fit into what they call "normal."   
But that was only _half_ of what Dan was afraid of. His breathing had already long become noticeably harder, coming out shorter and quicker. It spiked over a take of air when a pair of disinterested eyes swept over him lazily, lighting up his body like spotlights landing on all the flaws in his being.  
He rushes to collect his things from his locker, because he would die if made the person who's locker was under his wait. Squeezing out of the locker bay, he sighs out a small relief.  
Dan studies a piece of paper stuck to a window, it said something about the festival coming up but Dan's mind was too occupied with other thoughts to read it properly.  
Dan was certainly doing something wrong. Maybe his expression was weird and didn't fit into the _'I'm looking at a poster, pose'_ or maybe the way he held himself was wrong? _Maybe_ he shouldn't be standing here at all, has he stood staring at this poster too long? _Has he broken a social rule he didn't know about?_  
 _What if_ he actually shouldn't be standing here at all because the ground was something- _or what if_ people are wondering why he was alone- _what if_ they thought he was the strange silent boy as when he looks around at all the people, they all have a friend or group, they're all laughing, all chatting so _easily_!  
Dan takes in a deep breath and moves away from the poster. Blatantly ignoring the burning in his throat. Walking towards his classroom, number 27, to stand as the only one in line.  
What if they all thought he was stupid? Well, of course they did. After all, he _was_ stupid. Everyone around him made friends so quickly and _effortlessly_ , like it was the most natural thing in the world! And here he was, too scared to lift his eyes to meet another's. Dan was the worst coward he knew.

' _ **Rinnng! Rinnng!**_ ' The shrill school bell rang out. Dan gulped, taking in another deep take of air as he reminded himself to breath properly and shuffled the books he held in his hands around, rearranging them for the third time.  
Just in case.  
 _Just in case_ they made him stand out too much.  
Just in case they made people stop and laugh because Dan has _probably been holding his books horribly wrong all these years and him and everybody else was only just now realising._

But now his heart beat fast for another reason, _now_ he has to enter his classroom. Students are moving to collect their own books  and moving off to their own classrooms.  
 _But what if this wasn't his classroom?_  
Dan glances behind him, nobody else had lined up yet.  
 _What if his room number had changed without him knowing?_  
Dan checked the room number above the door again.  
 _Or what if he read the number above wrong every time he looked and he steps into a class of unknown early students he hadn't seen enter or maybe there's a teachers meeting going on and he'll walk into the middle of that, disrupting everyone? Or what if-_  
"I'm sure the doors unlocked." Says a voice from beside Dan.  
He flinches, feeling heat on his cheeks as his eyes dart to meet a girl's from his class before quickly falling back to his books. Rearranging them some more.  
"Hm?" Was all the sound that could make its way out from Dan's voice box. It was hard to talk with the heavy weight of fear sitting on your throat. He gulped again. His mouth had gone dry.  
' _It's fine, you're fine.'_  
Dan couldn't convince himself, as it probably _was_ open, Mr. Johnson always leaves his door open to let them in for whenever they will arrive. He's cool like that. The girl probably thinks he's so dumb. She opens the door and with a huff walks in, Dan following, hearing footsteps and chatter behind near as more of his classmates came, he only had a few more seconds to worry about _what if this was still somehow not where he was meant to be_ before he was in and needing a table.

Mr. Johnson sat at his desk, casually setting up. Did Dan have any homework he didn't know about? He makes his way to the front, where the Teacher Pets and the other Outcasts sit. As the "normal" and popular don't spare any seats in the back. The back was strictly for people who could at least talk to other people.  
Dan, was _not_ that.  
Quickly sitting down, he set up his things, hoping that there'll be enough room that nobody will have to sit next to him.  
He couldn't handle that today.

A red-headed kid sits at the other end of the table two seats down, _ok, that's o-kay Dan_. He was _fine_ , just another Outcast, who was _not_ sitting directly next to him so there was less chance of him _screwing something up._   
While the red-head was Outcasted for something as simple as hair colour, Dan had Outcasted himself a long time ago... and he doesn't know how to undo the damage.

"OK!" Mr. Johnson claps his hands to single the start of class. "After the recent incidents further up in town, I suppose today we should recap on the dangers of Magic."

 _'Ohdeargodpleaseno_.'

Dan's ears begin to ring as his nails start to dig into his arms. The pounding in his head can't block out the words of Mr. Johnson.

"Magic is an _evil_ force belonging to Hell and it's demons. It is an evil power used to _kill_ and _destroy_ life and happiness. The demon that holds all the most powerful magic is called the Dark, which is why magic is sometimes referred to as, simply, Dark." Mr. Johnson explained calmly, not hearing the noise that Dan was currently suffering under.

"Now don't worry, this demon can't enter this world as it's blessed by God and protected by the holy angels! But it can send bits of itself through the cracks called souls. We all have one." He gestures around the room at the students, "And of course, you all think you would be able to resist the temptations of Dark. But Dark is tricky and malevolent, it will come to you at your worst and if you give in to its false promises and fail God, you will be consumed with magic, you will become a _Witch_ ," Mr. Johnson said the word with a twist of disgust, "now joined with the Dark, it will corrupt your body and mind. Taking over your soul to hand over to the Devil. You will become _evil_. The Dark will change what is natural about you and kill it completely until all you can do is plan and plot evil things. It can mould you into a monster, like it does with Werewolves and other creatures."

A girl raised her hand, the teacher nodded at her, "What is it, exactly, that Witches do again? Do they make flowers like the ones in mother's garden die?"  
Mr. Johnson gave a patient smile, "Witches are responsible for bad harvests, floods, forest fires, sicknesses, lost children and many more evil acts. They will destroy their own family, or take over their minds so no one realises they aren't them anymore... evil... bad... wicked... immoral... inhuman... evil... _evilevilevilevi_ -"

"Hey, are you feeling okay?"

Dan starts, opening his eyes wide as he clamps down on a yelp. The Outcast was leaning over to him with a concerned look on their face. Dan was pale, and breathing quick enough for someone else to notice. _Hell_.

"I know magic is scary but it's not like it'll ever come down here right?" They tilt their head, "It wants the more important people living in it up in town and in the city, not the people hanging about the outskirts." They grinned, tapping the table lightly instead of Dan's arm in an attempt to comfort as they returned their attention to the board.   
Dan forced his breathing back to normal as he too, refocused to the teacher, who was now going though ways to repeal the Dark and fight against it.  
Dan knew those things where false though, sliver didn't burn him, mixes of herbs didn't confuse him, crosses didn't scare him, he could enter churches, shouting God's name didn't stun him.  
He risked glancing at the teens sitting around him, a few looked worried, but most looked bored and one yawned tiredly. What would they do if they knew a Witch was sitting right there with them? That the blessed necklaces they all wore did _absolutely nothing?_

Dan shivered, he should tell them, of the danger, that they were not protected from the Dark as they all thought they were.   
But if he did, he would have to explain how he knew, and that would get him burned, was it really that selfish to want to live? Maybe it was.

  
-

  
A young man brushes cat fur from his pants, deeply regretting sleeping on them last night. At least the clothes he wore were black, meaning as long as no one looked too closely it would be unnoticeable. Not that that matters all that much, being outside without a shower has put him in a dirty situation anyways.  
Walking out into the small hallway thing of the stable he peered nervously into a stall. A grey head poked out with a friendly nicker.  
"Ah!" He skited around the the horse and ducked outside, the sun hit him at once, he had slept in it seems.  
The kids where already outside, he saw some eating, eating _food_ , and spied a couple hanging about near the school boundaries under the trees, eating their own lunch, a lunch of _food_.   
Too busy with their own thing to notice another homeless lad, as it appeared to be quite common around here, sadly.  
His stomach gives an angry rumble and his hand goes to rest on it, failing to silence it as he continues to watch the teens eat _food_.  
He could steal something for himself.   
The man winces, he hasn't been homeless for long and already his thoughts easily slipped to thief.  
He supposed the other option was turn furry and hunt down some mice to eat but that's, quite frankly, really... _gross_.

Cold presses against the skin of his left arm and the back of his head, leaving a lingering tingle, he turns around to face the wind he hoped had started to combat the heat but sees instead a brunet sitting down alone under the shade of a tree. The boy almost chucks his lunch down, already twisting around to fiddle with the leaves of the green and yellow flowering brush besides him.   
The homeless guy's eyes go straight to the unattended bread on top of a container.   
He's feet obey his stomach as he tries to walk softly over.  
He was _really_ doing this.  
 _Stealing somebody's lunch right now_.  
He was close now, the boy still busy with the bush and now he just needs to reach down and-  
"Um, hello," _Oh goddamn it, why couldn't he just snatch it and run like a normal starving person?_  
The boy flips around and frantic tumbling earth crashes into itself in the brown eyes that rose up to meet a hesitant blueish grey sky pair, like they weren't too sure in whether they were going to be cloudy today or not.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy this thing I'm making haha.  
> I don't know how long it'll be, maybe about 4 chapters? And I don't know if you people are even interested in this sort of AU but I'm having fun with it and I hope a few of you can have fun reading as well! C:


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